The White House is now defending some of its talking points over how it will mark the tenth anniversary of September 11th, namely by minimizing references to Al Qaeda in an effort to show the terror group is increasingly less relevant. A former staffer of Vice President Dick Cheney spoke out against the move, saying I think the fact that you would actually instruct government officials to speak differently about 9/11 simply based on where theyre standing is not just insulting to American audiences and to foreign audiences, but again I think its a little bit of a window into how they look at national security issues.

Bill Hemmer spoke to former New York Governor George Pataki, who was in office on that fateful day, who said that criticism makes sense and its critical to remember that 9/11 wasnt an attack on the global community  it was an attack on America. He added that the White Houses message combined with the administrations refusal to call terrorists terrorists contribute to the fundamental truth that this administration has never understood the meaning of September 11th.

Oh, I am sad to hear about Steve passing. What a dedicated and beautiful man.

In fact, I remember that you sent me a link to “In Steve’s Own Words” (now called “That Day?”) a few years ago. I have kept the printout with me ever since. Thank you so much. I’m glad you showed up to the thread.

I wouldn’t mind minimizing references to Al Qaeda, so long as most of them were replaced with denunciations of Salafist Islam (the sect or tendency within Sunni Islam of which Al Qaeda is representative) and attacks on the ideas of Saayed Qutb, whose importation of the existentialist idea of “absolute commitment” into Islam is the foundation for suicide attack tactics as an “acceptable” form of jihad. (Before Qutb, Islamic martyrdom differed from Christian martyrdom in counting death in battle at the hands of non-believers — though we Orthodox regard St. Lazar and those who died with him on the Field of Kosovo as martyrs, so even that distinction isn’t quite as sharp as it might be — and, of course, in understanding of God for which one was dying, but suicide attacks weren’t martyrdom.)

8
posted on 08/31/2011 5:25:11 PM PDT
by The_Reader_David
(And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)

As we remember the dead and devastation on the coming anniversary I hope FR visitors new and old remember Freepers “BCM” (Battalion Chief John Moran, FDNY) and “BKO” (Barbara K. Olson) killed in the attacks.

As we remember the dead and devastation on the coming anniversary I hope FR visitors new and old remember Freepers BCM (Battalion Chief John Moran, FDNY) and BKO (Barbara K. Olson) killed in the attacks.

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